‘Normalization’ with the West? Only on Iran’s Terms

Since the nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1 was implemented earlier this year, there has been a steady trickle of reports on visits by business delegations and high-profile firms to Iran, with the intention of securing deals giving them a foothold in the newly opened Iranian market.

However, according to the Financial Times, the visits have not resulted in much more than provisional deals – with “mounting frustration in Iran that they have yet to materialize into completed deals on the ground.”

Is this the “big deal” Iran has been waiting for? Perhaps, but it was another aspect of the deal that captured the media’s attention – the fact that it is the “first major contract” between a US company and Iran since the partial lifting of sanctions earlier this year; and that if the deal reaches completion, US aircraft will be flying in Iran’s skies “for the first time in decades.”

Some outlets were quick to read into more into these reports, with The New York Times suggesting that sealing the deal would “send a strong signal that Iran and the United States, despite decades of antipathy, might be moving towards normalized ties” (a quote cited by many other news outlets).